Written by Grant Morrison, Mark Millar & Steven Grant
Pencils by Amanda Conner & Louis Small, Jr.
Inks by Jimmy Palmiotti & Rob Stull
Lettering by Hugh Monhan & Y. Botha
Published by Harris Comics
$2.95

Reviewed by Alex Bernstein

Due to a twist of vampiric cruelty Pixie's become a nymph-like teenage vampire and she's pissed: at her human vampire-hunter sister Dixie, and at Dixie's mentor, Vampirella. The bad vampires chain up Vampi and throw her in the river, leaving Dixie at Pixie's mercy. After something clearly naughty has happened off-panel, we see evil Pixie french-kissing Dixie and re-adjusting her dress.

Pixie: Okay, lesbian incest stuff taken care of. What can we do now, mm?

I dunno… mm…find a plot? Ah, now if only the villain were Mr. Jinks!

Okay, I'm not a Vampirella fan. I never read her books before. (I may have bought a couple, but I don't remember exactly reading them.) I couldn't tell you what her powers are. She's not stopped by traditional stuff (garlic, silver bullets, sunlight). And she's a vampire-hunter - but she's a vampire, too. Basically she's Buffy in a thong and that concept alone has covered decades of mileage.

But I didn't come to this series for the eros content (which is definitely there), I came for Grant and Mark. If I understand it correctly, Grant and Mark did this as a favor for a Harris Publishing Editor and, trust me, it is a Big Favor. This is slight work. But if anyone show's more glee and joy in even their slight work, it's these two on one of their over-the-top - all hell-breaking-loose rides. Everything is innuendo and detail with just enough jokes to keep the thing going.

Clearly, Vampi's 100% dismissible as a character and concept, and that's where these two start. They create a mock-reverential Pamela Lee-cum (hah) TV blockbuster that works purely because nothing is taken seriously.

Grant and Mark use a vicious take from "Sophie's Choice" as a starting point (the head vampire forces the mob boss to choose which of his two teenage daughters should get shot - Pixie or Dixie), and from there, it's all uphill or downhill depending on your appetite. If you dig tongue-in-cheek, bodies-flying mayhem and chicks in thongs with major ordnance strapped on, welcome to Heaven. My biggest disappointment is that too many conventions of the genre are endlessly repeated: Vampi in chains, guns blazing. Surely, our boys could have come up with new takes. But then again - why bother?

Now, if they'd done Vampi like THE INVISIBLES - that would've been cool.

Mildly Recommended (unless you're a regular Vampi fan, in which case who cares about this review then, anyway?) Certainly, a solid C+ for exuberance.

Alex Bernstein is a regular contributor to PopImage.